A "love" bite...

Amelia came home today with a little "love" bite. One of her day care buddies went to give her a hug and a little kiss and something went wrong with the little kiss...it somehow turned into a bite...

The ladies at the day care were really sorry and assured me that they would try to not let it happen again. I know they do all they can to prevent things like this from happening...but, they are kids and these things just happen.

At least the kids have to be up on their shots in order to go to day care! ;)

You can see the bite below her lip to the right of her chin...

But she's still smiling...so it's all good...

Donikkl!!

Today was an awesome day! We went to a children's rock concert in Regensburg with lots of friends and their kiddos. The band is a local band called Donnikl. They are pretty famous for one song in particular... THIS ONE (...the embedding was disabled by youtube for this clip...no idea why, but it was...)

This was serious fun! Amelia had an absolute blast as did the kiddos of our friends. I am betting that she will sleep quite well tonight (*knock on wood*). So, here are some photos and a video or two from our lovely day!

During the first song...she was so enthralled with it...when people clapped, she did too...it was so adorable!!

Ema (the little witch) on stage with Donnikl!! She had a blast up there!!

One of my fav pics of AstroYoga with her two kiddos...

Some of the kiddos...it was hard to get them all together...

Amelia and her admirer, Nathan...

Some of the ladies...

A sad little giraffe...she only wanted to be with daddy today...this is what happened when she went to mommy...so I cried right along with her...

Carla's pirate chicken! ;)

Amelia finally happy on mommy's shoulders...but then, right after this perfect photo, she wanted to go right back to daddy...such a daddy's girl. :)

Our Family :)

Clair taking a break and having some fries...

Little Lily pooped from the concert...or lulled to sleep by it...not sure which.

Singing another encore...

First day in the park in 2011

Today started off a bit rocky. Amelia is getting some more teeth (I think) and she has been sleeping horridly the past few nights. Last night wasn't any exception. She was up a few times...but to make matters just a bit worse, Markus was up at 4am because he had to leave by 4:45am to head to the slopes. Of course with all the ruckus, she woke up. So, I just decided to stay in her room until Markus left...good idea. I got her in bed and then went to bed myself. At 6am, she was up and ready to go. I, on the other hand, was COMPLETELY exhausted. So, Elmo came to the rescue.

I gave in and we watched Elmo for about an hour. Then I had to go and pick up the slide (see previous post), and of course, she falls asleep in the car. Noooo!!! I want to nap too!! I'm thinking to myself, "Please lord, let her transfer from the car to the bed!!" Well, that didn't happen. She saw the slide in the car. So, we came upstairs, played on the slide. Then, I saw the best sign ever. She rubbed her eyes! Sweet! I then asked if she'd like to go take a nap. She answered, "YES!". Awesome!! It did take her about half an hour to go to sleep and I had to walk around with her, but by Jesus, she went to sleep! Needless to say, I laid down with her too.

3 hours later we got up. That was awesome. I was pretty refreshed. Amelia was refreshed. We ate lunch, and it was just so lovely outside, I couldn't keep us in a minute longer. So, we headed out to the park. It was lovely! Of course, halfway through our park time, the battery of my camera died. Awesome. But, I did get some good shots before that happened! :)

Amelia loves the rocking things...

I asked her to smile, in which she always shuts her eyes and gives a HUGE smile...love it!Then she sees the slide..."slide, slide, slide" is all I hear for a couple of minutes...until we get over to the slide...But I had to get a shot of her with her tongue out...Another one of her fav things to do...

Her fav thing...the slide!!

Weeee!!!

My beautiful little girl! How I love her! :)

The Best 6 Euro Ever Spent

Ok, at least for now...

There is this awesome website called grafyardsales.com, and it is basically a site for Americans (ok, for the Americans over here for military reasons, but there isn't a password or anything, so it is really open for everyone). It tells you when yard sales are coming up. They have listings for stuff that people are trying to sell...cars, furniture, baby stuff, electronics...you get the picture. It's like a craigslist for the local community here.

I've gotten some things off of there. I got an extra transformer to have as a back up. Then I tried to restrain myself because this site is dangerous...as in dangerous for my wallet. Well, the deal that I found, I definitely COULDN'T pass up.

It was a toddler slide!! A 2-step toddler slide! I couldn't believe it. I e-mailed the seller right away and asked how much she wanted for it...6 Euro!! Sold!!

Amelia is a bit of a slide-a-holic, so this will definitely take care of her addiction. It fits on the balcony for when we are having lovely weather, and when the weather is crap, we can have it inside. When she first saw it, she kept repeating, "Slide, slide, slide"...over and over and over and over. I think she liked it. So, this is the best 6 Euro that I have spent in a while! :)

A long awaited update on the Munchkin

Amelia is growing like a weed...well, at least her brain is growing and growing...she's still dainty, but such a ball of energy.

Like I said, she's still pretty dainty. "Klein aber fein" as they say in German...little but lovely is how I would translate it. She probably weighs about 9.5 kilos when wet. She's getting taller, but I haven't measured her lately. She's in 12-18 month clothing and I think she'll be in that for a while. I'm still having to roll up the pants and the arms of shirts, at least on some of her clothes. It is crazy the difference in sizes with different brands, but that's a whole other story.

She is a little ball of energy. Today was a lovely, lazy Sunday at home. She would run back and forth between her room and the living room, sometimes bringing a new book to look at, sometimes with a new stuffed animal, sometimes just to run in, yell "grrr" and turn around and run back. It was hilarious. She did this for about half an hour in the morning and about 45 minutes to an hour this afternoon. Charlie was a bit flustered as to where he could nap...Amelia kept wanting to go to him and give him hugs.

Her brain must be HUGE though. I am shocked and awed everyday by how much she understands and the new words she seems to pull out of nowhere. She's understanding both languages with absolutely NO problem. I figured that this would be the case by observing my friend's kids, but to see it with your own child is just something different. she knows loads of words and most of the time in both languages. Markus asks, What does Mommy call (German word here). She says it in English. I ask her, What does Daddy call (English word here). She says it in German. Right now, this is only for certain words such as slide/rutsche, but it is still amazing. Asking her yes/no questions works wonders. She knows what she wants and what she doesn't want. What I love is when I notice that she is getting a bit tired, I ask her, "Do you want to take a nap?" She usually answers with vigorous nodding of her head. Or, her favorite question, "Do you want an egg?" (She LOVES eggs.) There is also crazy amounts of head nodding. But, when she doesn't want to do something, she most always answers with a big ol' "Nein!". It is funny hearing your child answer in a language not your own. Pretty cute, too.

So, here is a (long) list of words that Amelia says...there are both German and English words mixed here and if there is only a German word that she says, I'll put the English translation in ().

-ei (egg)
-mommy/momma
-daddy/papa
-Charlie
-moon/mond
-puppy
-"moo"
-"bock-bock"/"gack-gack"
-hubschrauber (helicopter)
-elmo
-bäbä (meaning something is gross)
-dudu (when she "tells someone off" for lack of a better word...basically if she trips over a lego, she says 'dudu' and points her finger at it)
-pepper & salt / pfeffer & salz
-slide/rutsche
-nein/no
-yes/ja
-kerze (candle)
-brille (glasses)
-booby
-eichhörnchen (squirrel)
-rehlein (deer)
-wasser (water)
-juice
-baba
-uh-oh
-grandma & grandpa /oma & opa
-Fred (her stuffed bear)
-Anna (a cousin)
-aunt & uncle / tante & onkel
-ball
-"melia" (for her own name ;) )
-coffee/kaffee
-"grrr" (like a tiger)
-Lily (a friend's daughter)
-fish/fisch
-Hias (a friend of ours)
-Jannis (a friend's son)
-"quack-quack"
-Moni (the teachers at the daycare is called Simone & Monica...so probably for both)
-"piep-piep-piep" (what a chick says)
-pig
-nochmal (again)
-more
-"brrm-brrm-brrm" (noise of a car or tractor)
-Janda (a friend of mine)
-mouse/maus
-kitty
-baby
-bye bye
-pucky
-please (sounds like peas...soo cute!)
-milk/milch
-eis (ice ceram)
-apple/apfel
-aus (out or drop it when talking to Charlie)
-auf (open or up)
-seat
-light/licht
-monkey/affe
-breze (pretzel)
-big/groß
-potato
-auto
-heart

This is just a list we created today. I am sure that we are missing some, but I'll add more (to other posts) when I remember what they are.

Markus said today that it is so cute hearing his daughter speak English...I was thinking the same thing about her speaking German. A child's mind is such a wonderous thing...so much possibility. Now, I just hope I don't eff this whole parenting thing up...

Here we go again...

No, no...I'm not pregnant (thank goodness!). Amelia is sick again. Well, she threw up once today and that was at day care, and when we got home, she was a bit lethargic and not really wanting to do anything. So, I took her temp, and yup. She had a fever. So, since it was pretty high, I gave her some good ol' Ibuprofen and she took an awesome nap...about an hour and a half or so. I slept a bit with her, mainly because I was faking being asleep in hopes she would go to sleep and I actually fell asleep. After I finally got up, she was out for another half hour or so, so that was good.

When she got up, she was pretty much in a good mood. I could tell when the Ibuprofen was wearing off...she turned into a bit of a monster. Sure enough, she was pretty hot, so I gave her a bit more Ibuprofen and all was well.

She ate pretty well too. She had a few pretzel sticks, some of the soup they sent home from day care (they get lunch there and they send home their leftover lunch when they don't eat), a single grape and 3 or 4 pretty large strawberries. Tonight, she didn't want the awesome salmon, rice or green beans that I made for dinner, she only wanted pink beans (think black beans, but pink). Yeah, I know. Beans on a possible bad stomach...good luck with that one. I just wanted something in her little tummy before she went to bed. Oh, and I nursed her a crap load this afternoon. I was only nursing 2 or 3 times a day, but I tend to break this when she is sick because I figure that breast milk has loads of antioxidants and loads of goodness, so it definitely can't hurt.

So, here's to crossing fingers and pressing thumbs that all goes well tonight...please lord let tonight go well...

Fun Club!

Yesterday, I met some friends at Fun Club in Regensburg. It is a WONDERFUL place to take the kiddos because it is a GIANT indoor play ground! I tried to explain to Amelia where we were going so she shouldn't cry in the car, but nope, she cried the ENTIRE drive to Regensburg...this was about 45 minutes. She didn't even want gold fish...her FAV snack! I nearly lost my brain, but luckily, we got there right before that happened. Right when we got in the door, she was just fine and dandy. Playing like crazy and just have a great time. :)

I did take my camera with me, but yeah...I didn't take it out. Luckily, my friend Christina is always taking pictures and she is really good too! So, I borrowed these from her facebook. Thank you Christina!

We were there for a few hours and she was completely zonked. So, the ride home was a bit quieter. :)

Fun Club is an awesome place to go, but I must say, and my friends agreed, it is MUCH easier when we take our spouses.... ;)

Jonathan having fun on the slide :)

Penny and Callum

AstroYoga with the newest addition to her family...Lily :)

Oliver having a blast!

Leo enjoying himself too!

Clair going crazy on the trampoline...she LOVES the trampoline

Nathan inspecting Lily...and Janda doing the same :)

The boys...Luca and Nathan

Amelia blowing kisses bye-bye

And of course, all good girls get ice cream!

Phoenix

Phoenix was wonderful! My grandmother lives there. She is such a wonderful woman (hey gram!!) and it is always fun to go and visit. We did loads while we were there.

Amelia and I getting searched at the airport...

We met up with one of her best friends, Sandra. She is a great lady too. Always a great conversation with those two!

We headed to the Senior Center so that Grammy could show Amelia off. Amelia loves old people and old people love her, so it is really a win-win right there!

We also hit up this store called "Last Chance". It is a great store if you are prepared to dig through stuff to find the really good deals. This is a part of the Nordstrom's stores and it is the last place the clothes go before going...well, I don't know where. You can tell that some of the stuff has been worn...some more than others...but most of the time you can find some awesome things. I got Amelia a cute pair of Ugg houseshoes for 10 bucks, and a pair of sparkly purple converse for 13! I got a pair of Born shoes for 20 and 2 Michael Kors shirts for 10 buck each! That is awesome!
We hung out at the house a bit too. Amelia loved being able to be outside, especially since it was 90F most of the time, she was able to run around in just her diaper and even be able to play in a large pail of water. She LOVED this!


I had to keep her on Texas time, so this made the mornings REALLY early. I'm talking 5:30 or so. Blah! So that was the only down part...but hey, a bit of coffee helps a lot in these situations!

We also went out for Mexican food. I can't get enough of it, and it turns out that Amelia really likes it too...however, this night, she REALLY liked ice. Fern's ice to be exact. (Side note: Fern is my Grammy's boyfriend! So cute!) She just stuck her hand right in his water and grabbed some ice. She kept doing this. It was hilarious!


She was also pretty freaking cute at night. Grammy made her a make-shift high chair with an office chair and loads of pillows. Amelia LOVED this! She could lounge, put her feet on the table and basically be stinking cute!
After dinner most nights, she was also in a good mood. She loved the big mirror that Grammy has in her hallway and I caught her playing peek-a-boo with her reflection! How cute is that!


All in all, we had a great time in Phoenix and I can't wait to go back!!

Trick-or-Treating

Amelia's first American Trick-or-Treating was quite successful! We were over at my brother's house and went out with him and his wife and two kiddos. They were Mario and Luigi for Halloween. Quite cute! So, after the obligatory pics in front of the house, off we went! We only went down two streets, but after the second or third house, Amelia pretty much got the idea of what she was supposed to do. She ever carried her bucket up, but she went up to the door, looked freaking adorable and waved "bye, bye" when we were leaving. I asked people to just giver her one piece, but they kept putting in 4 or 5 pieces, so it looks like mommy has A LOT of candy to eat. There were some pretzels and a couple boxes of raisins which she'll most definitely get. She did get a treat and got some Reese's Pieces though...she thoroughly enjoyed them. She passed out in the car on the way home and stayed asleep and I hope that she'll sleep through again (knock on wood!!). All in all, quite a success.

With Mario and Luigi

The first house

She got the hang of it quickly

Counting candy...